Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!scooter!neoucom!wtm
From: wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Optical mouse ala DaleLuck was Re: Dragon's Lair
Summary: You can get a bigger mouse board...
Keywords: mouse discussion
Message-ID: <1448@neoucom.UUCP>
Date: 6 Jan 89 14:29:18 GMT
References: <10236@gryphon.COM> <668@apctrc.UUCP> <14439@oberon.USC.EDU>
Distribution: na
Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
Lines: 35


I called Mouse Systems about a year ago after I had seen an MSC
mouse used in an OEM application with a bigger mouse board.  I was
able to get a board that was roughly double the height and width of
the one that comes with the mouse.  It was moderately expensive; I
think it was ~$20.  If you have a laser printer, you can also print
out a grid whatever size you like.  The black stripes seem to be
contrasty enough to be detected by the mouse.  Actually, I think
the black lines are actually more reflective than the paper itself
to the mouse, so the lines are actually analogous to the mirrored
part of the mouse board.  The aluminum mouse board is much more
fun, however, as you can park the rhodent in your lap, thus freeing
up more room on the desk top for clutter.

The new Sun Roadrunner 386i comes with an MSC mosue too, but the
mouse board uses lines that are about 1/2 the width of those on the
"standard" mouse board.  This makes working with the mouse real
nice, as it improves the sensitivity.

Note that there are actually two colors of light used in the mouse
to sense motion: a red and an infrared LED.  The light sources are
aimed at slightly offset angles, apparently reflecting differently
off the board, generating a quadrature signal so that the direction
of motion can be sensed.  (I'm a chronic disassembler of things to
see how they operate.)  The Amiga version of the MSC mouse must be
a little different from the IBM version, as the Amiga can read a
quadrature signal directly; the IBM version generates a 5 byte
stream of 1200 baud serial data for each mouse movement.  The
serial protocol is the one that was first used by Summagraphics and
then later also used by Microsoft, Logitech, et al.

I suppose that is enough from the 'for what it's worth department'.

Happy new year,
--Bill